Posts Tagged ‘Food Ways’

Thanks to the students of the Fall 2010 CIEE Khon Kaen program for their support. Here are two Op-Eds that really focus in on important current issues in Thailand’s interdependent rural-urban society:

Rethink the Rural and Urban

Sam Ryals

Globally the number of farmers is on the decline and urban slum populations are on the rapid rise. Countless people flood to urban centers each year with the hope of prospering only to find that there is little but destitution waiting to welcome them. Farmers are finding themselves in a similar state of poverty as the urban poor as large corporations snatch up the small farms and replace them with chemical intensive mono cropping. Who is winning here? The big businesses, the politicians and the government have much to gain as the divide between the rich and the poor is exponentially increasing. As Monsanto cuts backroom deals with policy makers innocent farmers are falling into bankruptcy because of the unethical business practices of seed patenting. Read the rest of this entry »

The first week of May found the Food Ways Learning Group traveling by 6-wheel truck trace the food ways of two very commonly purchased food ingredients – shallots and chilis. Buying food is increasingly common in Esan’s rural communities and villagers are increasingly concerned and are asking – where does food come from? How is it produced? While both research trips were important learning experiences for our group, everyone was astounded by the amount of chemicals used in production. Yet this is reality in a food system that depends on monocropping. More writing to come on this resarch process, for now some photos from our most recent experiences. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s summer vacation here in northeastern Thailand. March and April, the two hottest months of the year, bring students home to, as they often say, “eat, play and sleep.” But for student-activist groups, this is the time of the year to learn outside of the classroom, from villagers engaged with social and environmental movements. Students often spend a week with villagers helping to build community halls, libraries or other needed structures, learning about the villagers’ struggles with dams, mines or environmental injustice, and reflecting on their student group’s learning process and planning out next steps for the group’s activities.

In American society, we value a multitude of choices because choices mean freedom. When we’re faced with two choices, any normal Joe would choose the one that makes them happier. Yes, there is a certain anxiety we feel when we’re presented with too many decisions like where to eat, what career to take, what song to listen to and all the other choices we make on a daily basis. But choices are often indicators of development. For example, if you have more choices to a career, your economy is healthy. If you can choose to buy a tropical fruit in the still of Vermont’s winter, trade is active and the power of your dollar goes far. Being able to choose between 40 varieties of cereals gives us the power to design our diets. However, in a capitalist society, have we come to appreciate the quantity of choices more than the quality? I especially want to explore this question in terms of our everyday consumer related decisions.

This story is part of the Alternative Agriculture Network’s Food Ways Research Project, which critically looks at where the foods and ingredients we commonly eat come from and how they are produced. With this research, we hope to propose and develop local alternatives for a more sustainable food system.